Arroyo Seco River Hike

Arroyo Seco is anything but seco (Spanish for "dry"); it got
its name because it disappears before joining the Salinas river
somewhere underground. In the hills, it has carved a narrow deep
gorge with an all year stream flowing from pool to pool. We will
travel its course through the Ventana Wilderness
for about 11 miles.
Much of the travel along the canyon is wading through the shallow
portions of the stream, or swimming the deeper portions, alternated
with patches of boulder scrambling. Along the lower stretches, there is
as much swimming as walking, with one pool after another. We will
encounter several waterfalls; once we will have to climb down through
a waterfall, or jump 25 feet, possibly
using a rope brought along for this occasion.
The canyon grows so narrow at one point that you can touch both sides
at the same time. The rock walls go up vertically for nearly 50
feet. At that same point, you are also floating in 35 or 40 feet of
water. At another point, you can slide down a
natural slippery sluice before splashdown in the next pool.
The sculpted granite of the canyon floor is spectacular. The hot
weather in July makes the river particularly delightful.
With the possible exception of the Forest Service campground, we can
be nude the entire trip (apart from our feet). This is in fact the
recommended attire, as any clothes you choose to wear will be soaked.

Textiles take
over the lower (best) 4 miles on weekends, so we'll come through that
stretch on Monday. At weekdays we will not meet that many other
people, and a greater percentage of them will be naturists.
The first 7 miles of the trip go through a remote area, where we are
not likely to encounter (many) other people at all.
For best enjoyment, your pack should provide a degree of flotation for
you, as well as itself. A dry bag such as
available at R.E.I. will keep your stuff water-free, while allowing
you to lounge on top of it in the water, as you drift through the
idyllic pools. Or, you can throw your pack in and jump after it. I
also recommend that you wear good covered shoes (not sandals) for
traction in the stream, ones that can stand to be wet all day. And
take an underwater camera!
For a complete checklist click here.

The Ventana Wilderness is located south-east of Monterey, California.
The meeting point is about 2 hours driving south of San Jose, or 2
hours north of San Luis Obispo. We meet on day 1
at 4pm at the endpoint of the trip, leave half of the cars there, and
carpool to the beginning (a 1.5 hour drive). That night we sleep on a
remote forest service campground (tables and grills, but no water),
from were we start hiking the next early morning. The second night we
sleep along the banks of the river, most likely on a sandy place
where we can do without sleeping pads. We'll try arrive at the
endpoint of the hike by sunset on the next evening. Then we have to
carpool back to the beginning of the hike (1.5 hour) to retrieve half
of our vehicles, possibly after a hearty meal on the way. Expect to be
home late.

There is no fee for this trip from my side, and neither do I assume
any responsibility. You'll have to pay a few dollars for the
campground and parking, and take care of your own food and
equipment. A good condition, strong swimming skills and the sense
of equilibrium needed to hike on slippery boulders are
required. During the 11 mile hike there are no other ways for leaving
the canyon than going back to the starting point or continuing to the
end. The last time the Bay
Area Naturists did this hike was in June 1995. I didn't check the
area since, and there may be new obstacles on our path. Like all
wilderness expeditions this trip is not entirely without risks, which
each participant carries him- or herself.

Postscript:
Because it was absolutely wonderful I repeated this trip in July 1999 and
August 2000. The participants consisted mostly of my personal friends,
a couple of members of the
Bay Area Naturists, and a few people who found this page on the web.
In 2002 I stopped living in the USA, and I didn't do this hike since.

Email on this subject keeps streaming in at rates that make it
hard to provide everyone with a personal answer. I do not know where
this page is linked from, but do keep in mind that I am not a tour
operator.

Similar trips as the one described above were organized by
Doug Hetrick July 12-15, 2003,
July 17-20, 2004 and July 9-12, 2005.
He plans to go again July 10 thru July 12, 2010. He may have
space for more participants; be sue to include ASR Hike in the
subject line if you email him about it, at
dhetrick@charter.net.

This letter
describes some problems encountered when driving to the start and endpoint
of the hike (The Escondido campground and the Arroyo Seco Campground
respectively) and also argues the trip can be done with one car and a bike.

Here are some photos from a trip in
2003
and here
are trip reports for Arroyo Seco excursions by Casey & Emily.